I have always believed that traditional carrot cake It was something that, a priori, due to the combination of ingredients it had, I wasn’t going to like it too much, but the truth is that when I tried it I changed my mind.
Although you expect its flavor to be intense carrot, it is not and I encourage you to try it because I have been pleasantly surprised. For the most knowledgeable and sweet tooth, I propose a quick and simple dessert: carrot cake with walnuts and raisins, a fitness recipe low in fat and calories.
How we got a fitness version
Like all sweet desserts, or most of them, carrot cake in its traditional version is one that contains a large amount of fat and calories; so our purpose is get a healthier version but that it still has the natural essence of the original cake.
For it in our fitness cake today we have avoided some traditional ingredients too fatty and substitutes have chosen other, and in smaller amounts, with macronutritional properties that are better suited to our needs.
wholemeal flour: we will only use about 150g. As you can see, we managed to reduce the traditional amounts of ordinary flour more than significantly, accompanying it with other substitute foods such as bananas to give it the consistency we are looking for, and we also incorporated a wholemeal version.
Coconut oil: We will use a very small amount, only two tablespoons, to reduce percentages of fat and calories. This time we have used a different version of oil, although we can easily use traditional olive oil. Its contributions, in terms of fat and calories, are practically the same but today we have chosen coconut oil because this type of oil is very well assimilated thanks to its medium chain triglycerides.
Sweetener: It is not necessary to add sweetener, but if we want we can substitute traditional sugar or cane sugar for other sweeteners, such as stevia.
Three simple keys that, accompanied by some other ingredient that we will now tell you about, will transform a dessert loaded with fat and kcal (butter, sugar…) in a much healthier version.
We will use 2 different bowls. In the first we will mix the wholemeal flour and the baking soda, and in the second the rest of the ingredients (the previously mashed banana and the grated carrot). Once we have prepared, we will pour the flour from the first bowl, little by little, working the mixture until it is a completely homogeneous mass and ready to pour into the cake container or mould.
We will put in the oven at 180º for about 45 minutes, previously heated, and we will control, from time to time, how our cake is doing. Once cooked, let cool and unmold.
One of the advantages of this recipe is that we can change the ingredients to our likingIn this case we have used nuts and raisins to skip the cake. With a 12-15 chopped nuts will be more than enough, remember that nuts are high in calories and you have to consume with moderation.
In this case, we have not made a coverage, but if we wish, we can make a filling or coverage of the cake to tasteFor example, low calorie jam a filling or more protein-based cream cheese and a pot of Whey protein. Today we propose a more natural and traditional carrot cake version, but you know that versions can vary the taste of the consumer.
This article was originally published by David Díaz Gil in November 2016 and has been revised for republication.
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